Drugs which bind to DNA intercalation are active against a range of diseases. The anthracycline drugs, daunorubicin and adriamycin, have a broad spectrum of antineoplastic activities. The general goal of this project is to develop a detailed thermodynamic and molecular structural model for the interaction of anthracycline derivatives, and antineoplastic intercalating drugs in general, with DNA and to relate this model to the mechanism of medicinal action of these compounds. Physical techniques used in developing the model will include viscometric titrations; various types of spectroscopy including ultraviolet-visible, nuclear magnetic resonance and fluorescence; equilibrium dialysis; and centrifugation. These techniques will be employed with a selection of DNA samples including closed circular superhelical DNA and bacterial DNAs of different A-T/G-C composition to thoroughly characterize the anthracycline-DNA complex.